Plan To Eliminate Middletown City Treasurer Sparks Debate

SHAWN R. BEALS, sbeals@courant.com

MIDDLETOWN — A proposal by the charter revision commission to eliminate the elected city treasurer post has initiated a debate over the merits of the position.

At a public hearing Monday on the charter commission's proposal, Bishop William McKissick, president of the Middletown Ministerial Alliance, said the city treasurer is a necessary layer of security in financial decisions.

"The city treasurer is historically a watchdog for the citizens of Middletown," McKissick said. "We have certainly taken a stand against losing that position."

Every check issued by the city must have the treasurer's signature, and the signature is also required for the city to borrow money through bond sales.

McKissick said the elected treasurer answers directly to voters, while the finance director answers to the mayor, so eliminating the treasurer would take away an independent voice.

"To start with, one of the most basic business practices is that there should be two people signing off on spending decisions," McKissick wrote in a letter to the council Aug. 1. "In the case of city business, we feel that at least one of those people should be directly accountable to voters for those decisions."

A draft report of the charter revision commission says the finance director already performs most of the duties of the treasurer. The position currently receives a $4,000 stipend, and the commission's proposal calls for no extra compensation for the finance director to handle the treasurer's duties.

"The position is a duplication of duties and the stipend was unnecessary," the report said.

Eliminating the city treasurer is one of 17 changes the commission has recommended, including four-year terms for the mayor and common council instead of two.

In last year's municipal election, Republican Molly Salafia campaigned for city treasurer on a promise to work toward eliminating the position.

"My main reason for running for city treasurer is to begin the process of eliminating this superfluous figurehead position," Salafia wrote in a statement in August 2013. "In the past, this position had relevant duties; currently, however, the treasurer attends a handful of meetings a year, and has a rubber stamp of his or her signature the finance department uses on checks."

Salafia called the position a "patronage prize" and said the job is "one that taxpayers are already paying the finance department to do."

City Treasurer Quentin Phipps, a Democrat, won a second term by a wide margin over Salafia last year. He said he believes the position is vital to city government, and said taking away the position eliminates a level of scrutiny on city finances.

"The voters overwhelmingly voted last November that they wanted to keep the position," Phipps said Wednesday. "The city treasurer is a watchdog accountable to them and only them."

Phipps said he believes the treasurer should have even more of a role in city government to ensure good financial management. He said the stipend, which has been cut in the last few years, is fair.